With peak winds of 185 mph, Hurricane Dorian became the strongest storm on record to strike the Bahamas Sunday and among the top few most intense ever observed in the Atlantic Ocean. The Category 5 storm next threatens to bring hurricane force winds, coastal flooding and heavy rain to the east coast of Florida and Southeast U.S.

Dorian’s winds had only eased modestly, down to 180 mph at 11 p.m. Sunday, still generating “catastrophic conditions” in the northern Bahamas. The National Hurricane Center stated the storm made landfall on Grand Bahama Island at 11 p.m. after slamming into Great Abaco earlier in the day.